Introduction to the I/O buses

A bus is a common pathway through which information flows from

one computer component to another. This pathway is used for
communication purpose and it is established between two or more
computer components.

Functions of Buses in Computers

Summary of functions of buses in computers

1. Data sharing - All types of buses found in a computer transfer data

between the computer peripherals connected to it.
The buses transfer or send data either in the serial or parallel method of
data transfer. This allows for the exchange of 1, 2, 4 or even 8 bytes of
data at a time. (A byte is a group of 8 bits). Buses are classified
depending on how many bits they can move at the same time, which
means that we have 8-bit, 16-bit, 32-bit or even 64-bit buses.
2. Addressing - A bus has address lines, which match those of the
processor. This allows data to be sent to or from specific memory
locations.
3. Power - A bus supplies power to various peripherals connected to it.
4. Timing - The bus provides a system clock signal to synchronize the
peripherals attached to it with the rest of the system.
The expansion bus facilitates easy connection of more or additional
components and devices on a computer such as a TV card or sound card.

Bus Terminologies
Computers have two major types of buses:

1. System bus:- This is the bus that connects the CPU to the main
memory on the motherboard. The system bus is also called the front-side
bus, memory bus, local bus, or host bus.

2. A number of I/O Buses, (I/O is an acronym for input/output),

connecting various peripheral devices to the CPU. These devices
connect to the system bus via a ‘bridge’ implemented in the processors'
chipset. Other names for the I/O bus include “expansion bus", "external
bus” or “host bus”.

Expansion Bus Types

These are some of the common expansion bus types that have ever been
used in computers:
 ISA - Industry Standard Architecture
 EISA - Extended Industry Standard Architecture
 MCA - Micro Channel Architecture
 VESA - Video Electronics Standards Association
 PCI - Peripheral Component Interconnect
 PCI Express (PCI-X)
 PCMCIA - Personal Computer Memory Card Industry
Association (Also called PC bus)
 AGP - Accelerated Graphics Port
 SCSI - Small Computer Systems Interface.
Introduction to the ISA bus

ISA was an improvement over the original IBM XT bus, which was only
8 bit wide. IBM's trademark is AT bus. Usually, it is just referred to as
ISA bus.

ISA is 16 bit wide and runs at a maximum of 8 MHz. However, it

requires 2-3 clock ticks to move 16 bits of data.

The ISA bus works synchronous with the CPU. If the system bus is
faster than 10 MHz, many expansion boards become flaky and the ISA
clock frequency is reduced to a fraction of the system bus clock
frequency.

Some systems have the capability to run the ISA bus faster than this, but
some adapter cards will not function properly at higher speeds.

ISA data transfers require anywhere from two to eight cycles. Therefore,
the theoretical maximum data rate of the ISA bus is about 8MBps

The ISA bus is still faster than many of the peripherals connected to it,
such as serial ports, parallel ports, floppy controllers, keyboard
controllers, and so on.

The dimensions of 8-bit ISA adapter cards are as follows:

4.2" (106.68mm) high

13.13" (333.5mm) long

0.5" (12.7mm) wide

The dimensions of a typical AT expansion board are as follows:

4.8" (121.92mm) high

13.13" (333.5mm) long

0.5" (12.7mm) wide

Problems

The problem with the ISA bus is twofold:

 It is narrow and slow.

 It has no intelligence.

The ISA bus cannot transfer enough bits at a time. It has a very limited
bandwidth. Let us compare the bandwidths of ISA bus and the newer
PCI bus:

Transmission Data volume per

Bus
time transmission
ISA 375 ns 16 bit
PCI 30 ns 32 bit

Clearly, there is a vast difference between the capacity of the two buses.
The ISA bus uses a lot of time for every data transfer, and it only moves
16 bits in one operation.

The other problem with the ISA bus is the lack of intelligence.

This means that the CPU has to control the data transfer across the bus.
The CPU cannot start a new assignment, until the transfer is completed.

You can observe that, when your PC communicates with the floppy
drive, while the rest of the PC is waiting. Quite often the whole PC
seems to be sleeping. That is the result of a slow and unintelligent ISA
bus.

Problems with IRQs

The ISA bus can be a tease, when you install new expansion cards (for
example a sound card). Many of these problems derive from the tuning
of IRQ and DMA, which must be done manually on the old ISA bus.

Every component occupies a specific IRQ and possibly a DMA channel.

That can create conflict with existing components

MCA, EISA and VLB

In the 80s, a demand developed for buses more powerful than the ISA.
IBM developed the MCA bus and others responded with the EISA bus.
None of those were particularly fast, and they never became particularly
successful outside the server market.

MCA

IBM's top of the line bus from 1987 is named Micro Channel

Architecture.
The MCA bus was a masterpiece, unifying the best bus technology from
the mainframe design with the demands from the PC.
However, contrary to the ISA bus, MCA is patented, and IBM
demanded high royalty fees, when other PC manufacturers wanted to use
it. Thus the bus never became a great success, despite its advanced
design. It ended up being a classic example of poor marketing strategy.

The MCA bus is 32 bit wide and "intelligent." The cards configure
themselves with respect to IRQ. Thus, they can be installed without
adjustments of jumper switches or other features.

It works constantly at 10.33 MHz, asynchronous with the system bus.

The MCA bus is also relatively fast with transfer rates of up to 40 MBps
in 32 bit m. ode at 10.33 MHz.

EISA
EISA is a bus from 1988-89.
It is designed by the "Gang of Nine:" the companies AST, Compaq,
Epson, Hewlett-Packard, NEC, Olivetti, Tandy, Wyse and Zenith.
It came in response to IBM's patented MCA bus.

EISA is built on the ISA bus; the connector has the same dimensions and
old ISA cards fit into the slots.

To keep this compatibility, the EISA bus works at maximum 8 MHz.

Like ISA, the bus is synchronous with the CPU at a clock frequency
reduced to a fraction of the system bus clock frequency.

EISA is compatible with ISA in the sense that ISA adapters can be
installed in EISA slots..

However, EISA is much more intelligent than ISA. It has bus mastering,
divided interrupts and self configuration.
 It is 32 bit wide, and with it's compressed transfers and BURST mode
gives a highly improved performance.

But, like the MCA, it did not have great success. The EISA bus is still
used in some servers.

o 5" (127mm) high

o 13.13" (333.5mm) long

o 0.5" (12.7mm) wide

The EISA bus can handle up to 32 bits of data at an 8.33MHz cycle rate.

Most data transfers require a minimum of two cycles, although faster

cycle rates are possible if an adapter card provides tight timing
specifications.

The maximum bandwidth on the bus is 33MBps, as the following

formula shows:

8.33MHz x 4 bytes (32 bits) = 33MBps

Vesa Local Bus

This Bus called VLB for short. It is an inexpensive and simple

technology.
VLB was widely used on 486 motherboards, where the system bus runs
at 33 MHz.
VLB runs directly with the system bus. Therefore, data transfer is at
CPU speed, synchronous and in width.
The problem with VLB was compatibility

Introduction the PCI bus

The PCI is the high speed bus of the 1990s. PCI stands for Peripheral
Component Interconnect. This bus is made by Intel. It is used today in
all PCs and other computers for connecting adapters, such as network-
controllers, graphics cards, sound cards etc.

Some graphics cards however use the AGP-bus, which is a separate bus

only intended for graphics.

The PCI bus is the central I/O bus, which you find in all PCs!

A 32 bit bus

The PCI is actually 32 bit wide, but in practice it functions like a 64 bit
bus. Running at 33 MHz, it has a maximum transmission capacity of 132
MBps.

According to the specifications - not in practice, it can have up to 8 units

with a speed up to 200 MHz. The bus is processor independent.
Therefore, it can be used with all 32 or 64 bit processors, and it is also
found in other computers than PCs.
The PCI bus is compatible with the ISA bus in that it can react on ISA
bus signals, create the same IRQs, etc.

Buffering and PnP

The PCI bus is buffered in relation to the CPU and the peripheral
components. This means, that the CPU can deliver its data to the buffer,
and then proceed with other tasks. The bus handles the further
transmission in its own tempo. Conversely, the PCI adapters can also
transmit data to the buffer, regardless of whether the CPU is free to
process them. They are placed in a queue, until the system bus can
forward them to the CPU. Under optimal conditions, the PCI bus
transmits 32 bits per clock tick. Sometimes, it requires two clock ticks.

Because of this, the peripheral PCI units operate asynchronous .

Therefore, the PCI (contrary to the VL bus) is not a local bus in a strict
sense. Finally, the PCI bus is intelligent relative to the peripheral
components, in that Plug and Play is included in the PCI specifications.
All adapter cards for the PCI configure themselves. Plug and Play is
abbreviated PnP.

PCI with two faces

On modern system boards, the PCI bus (like ISA) has two "faces:"
 Internal PCI bus, which connects to EIDE channels on the
motherboard.
 The PCI expansion bus, which typically has 3-4 slots for PCI
adapters.
The PCI bus is continuously being developed further. There is a PCI
Special Interest Group, consisting of the most significant companies
(Intel, IBM, Apple, and others), which coordinate and standardize the
development.

Soon we shall see PCI with a higher bus speed (66 MHz) and greater
width (64 bit). However alternative buses are also marketed. An
example is the high speed AGP video bus (Accelerated Graphics Port)
and the FireWire Bus. AGP is fundamentally a 66 MHz PCI bus (version
2.1) which has been enhanced with other technologies making it suitable
for the graphics system.

PCI-X
Another new initiative is the so-called PCI-X (also called "Project One"
and Future I/O). Companies like IBM, Mylex, 3COM, Adaptec, HP and
Compaq want to launch a special high speed server version of the PCI
bus. This new bus (also mentioned as PCIX) allows a bandwidth of up to
1 GB per second (with a 64 bit bus running at 133 MHz). Intel is not
cooperating on this project, and neither is Dell. It is going to be
interesting to follow